LEFT TO RIGHT Hilaree Nelson, Emily Harrington and Chris-tina Lustenberger climbing Polar Moon on Canada’s Baffin Island. Photo: Jordan Manoukian A view deep into the belly of Polar Moon. Photo: Jordan Manoukian “I remember being 12 and looking over my shoulder on the chair and thinking, ‘I wonder if you could ski that,’” she says. At that point, no one had. It was in the back of her mind when she was away from Invermere, racing giant slalom on the World Cup circuit starting in 2003, and she was still dreaming about it when she transitioned into big mountain lines, ticking off other first descents from Baffin Island to the Bugaboos. Finally, that March she recruited another Invermere kid, TGR athlete and big mountain charger Ian McIntosh, to make good on that childhood dream. They each left their parents’ houses in the early hours of the morning, climbing over 6,000 vertical feet of cliff bands and chossy rock up the south face. When they stood on top, looking down at the valley they came from, they were elated, and aware of how much exposure lay below. They carved their way nearly 2,500 feet down a first descent of the fluted East Face. The slope ticks upward of 55 degrees in spots, but the snow was edgeable and firm as they picked their way past sharky rocks. They called their moms when they hit the apron, free of worry, full of pride. “Not every day you get to score a first descent with your child-hood friend on a peak that you’ve both admired since the very first time we strapped on a pair of skis,” McIntosh says about that day. For Lustenberger, it was something else. “The whole day felt like such a magical thing,” she says. “From leaving our parents’ houses to getting it in such good condition, with a good friend. It felt like coming full circle.” IT’S A SINGULAR LOOP from dreamy chairlift grom to Olympic GS skier to guide putting down big first descents in front of the camera, and it’s one Lustenberger has been arcing over years of hard work, talent and grit. Her parents, Peter and Jane, met in 1977 while working at the CMH Monashees Heli-Skiing Lodge and went on to open a ski shop called Lusti’s (hence the family nickname Lustenberger carries with her) at the base of Panorama in Invermere. Lustenberger and her older sister, Andrea, grew up on the slopes, chasing their mother as she scoured the mountain for fresh snow. The younger Lustenberger joined the Windermere Valley ski team and then spent six years on the Canadian National Team as a GS specialist. She was good. Really good. A top 10 finisher on the World Cup, she made the team for the 2006 Torino Olympics. The same precision and fire that earned her racing accolades is still visible when she slices big mountain turns—graceful and full of power, accelerating through every curve. Christina Lustenberger 045
The Ski Journal Volume 16, Issue 2: Page 45
